China's home prices remain stable in June

BEIJING - China continued to see a generally stable housing market in June, with home prices in 70 major cities showing slight month-on-month increases, official data showed Thursday.

New home prices in four first-tier cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- rose 0.7 percent month-on-month in June, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

The growth rate was flat with the expansion seen in May. Prices of second-hand homes in the four cities gained 0.7 percent last month, up 0.1 percentage points from the growth in May.

A total of 31 second-tier cities saw a month-on-month increase of 0.5 percent in new home prices, while 35 third-tier cities witnessed a month-on-month rise of 0.3 percent in new home prices last month.

On a year-on-year basis, new home prices in first-tier cities rose 6.1 percent in June, up from 6-percent growth in May, while those in second-tier and third-tier cities went up 4.8 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.